Was browsing and came across the toalson v7000, looks suspiciously like a babolat star 3 machine, very nice and has the same mounting system, wonder how it strings, anyone here used it???

brtennis

04-16-2004, 02:50 PM

The mounting system looks a little like the new Alpha Apex, which several of our board members already own.

blackburne

04-16-2004, 02:54 PM

Yep, the mounting arms look like the Apex, the tension head looks like the Prince 4000 and so do the clamps and bases.

cantaloupe

04-16-2004, 03:03 PM

Sweet, could you guys provide a pic of the Apex? A friend of mine has been dying to get hold of a machine like the babolat star 3, since the ones he's got are old and are acting up sometimes....

thx in advance :D

Gaines Hillix

04-16-2004, 06:46 PM

cantaloupe, the Alpha APEX is a crank machine, but it has a full suspension mounting system like the Bab machines. Contact Mark Gonzalez at Alpha for details; mark@alphatennis.com . I have an APEX with a Wise electronic tension head on it.

cantaloupe

04-16-2004, 07:51 PM

heya Gaines,

I did contact Mark and he sent me a pic of the new saturn, looks very sweet, and may be a worthy replacement to the star 3.

So how do you like the overall build of the mounting system on the apex???

Gaines Hillix

04-18-2004, 07:17 AM

cantaloupe, IMO, the build quality on the APEX is very good. The turntable, frame mount stands and frame support arms are all thick, heavy pieces of steel. The adjustment knobs are knurled steel pieces. The only plastic on it are the 6 frame support brackets(the parts that touch the frame) and those are easily replaced. The painted finish is nice and smooth with no runs or orange peel. I haven't managed to scratch or chip it, yet.

brtennis

04-18-2004, 08:58 AM

Hi Gaines,

The four "plastic" pieces on the side arms are high-quality teflon. They don't look like need to be replaced for a long time.

One real concern with future buyers for Alpha machines is how Alpha can maintain the quality, now that they move the manufacturing to China. Gaines, the machine you have is made in Taiwan. There are precedents of quality dramatically suffer when such a move was made (Eagnas for one?).

Robert

matchpoints

04-19-2004, 06:24 PM

from the one pic I found on the web, the mounting on the toalson v7000 looks exactly like the pic of the Alpha Apex.

Gaines Hillix

04-25-2004, 03:11 PM

Robert, my experience with Alpha tells me that they are quality conscious and they won't settle for poor quality manufacturing. I understand they are switching manufacturers because they were not completely happy with the current one and feel they'll have a better working relationship with the new factory. Of course, I would prefer that their machines were made in the U.S., but there are no US made machines, AFAIK.